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Underscoring Strong Public-Private Partnership

May 3, 2010

2:51 pm

Protective Security Advisors (PSAs) from the Office of Infrastructure Protection are hitting the pavement this week to reach out to nearly 300 individual sports league venues around the country as part of our coordinated campaign to raise awareness and enhance the safety and security of critical infrastructure within the commercial facilities sector.

We’ve asked the PSAs, who are our representatives in the field, to meet with facility security directors and owners and operators to provide them with the information and resources they need to enhance protection. These visits will serve as a foundation for stronger working relationships and future collaboration with security forces in the sports league and public assembly subsectors.

The comprehensive outreach effort is designed to get tools and resources into the field as a follow-up to the two-day conference and table-top exercise that we hosted last week in Northern Virginia. The event brought together approximately 200 members of professional sports leagues, industry associations, academia, private sports event security companies, law enforcement agencies, and other federal partners.

Participants included representatives from organizations such the National Football League, Major League Baseball, U.S. Tennis Association, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, Indy Racing League, Major League Soccer, National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing, and the International Association of Assembly Managers.

The sports leagues/public assembly subsectors initiative is the second of a series of engagements with private sector partners within the commercial facilities sector. The first initiative was with the retail and lodging subsectors in November, 2009. Our office plans to continue these types of events in the future, focusing on the remaining commercial facilities subsectors: real estate, outdoor events, gaming, and entertainment and media, and the remaining public assembly subsector and cultural properties partners.

This collaborative engagement demonstrates the value of our public-private partnership — borne out of the Department’s National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) — and our shared commitment to secure these venues and other critical infrastructure so vital to the safety and security of the American people.

If you would like more information about the NIPP and other important critical infrastructure initiatives currently underway at DHS, please visit www.dhs.gov/criticalinfrastructure.

Todd Keil is the Assistant Secretary, Office of Infrastructure Protection

Published by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Washington, D.C.